In 1987, historian George Marsden described what he called “the triumph—or nearly so—of what may be loosely called Kuyperian presuppositionalism in the evangelical [academic] community.” This “style of Christian thought” involved the rejection of certain forms of Enlightenment thinking widely embraced by North American Christians of previous generations, in which it was understood that contentious intellectual disputes between Christians and non-Christians could be settled though empirical inquiry and “clear thinking.” From a Kuyperian vantage point, by contrast, such disputes are the result of “disagreements about pretheoretical first principles, presuppositions, first commitments, or basic beliefs.” From one perspective, Marsden was right: this “worldview thinking” has become ubiquitous in Christian colleges and universities and in the Christian community more broadly. But from another point of view, worldview thinking remains a promise unfulfilled. The insights of Kuyperian presuppositionalism are underapplied, often cordoned off in university faculty mentoring programs or in “foundational” theology or philosophy courses, with the rest of the curriculum being taught pretty much the way it’s taught anywhere else, and with faculty research often indistinguishable from that conducted by our secular counterparts. Indeed, a decade later Marsden would lament that there are “almost no identifiable Christian schools of thought” in the mainstream academic disciplines. These presentations—part of a book project tentatively entitled Academy Regained—will attempt to redress this situation. Here we hope to show the relevance, usefulness, and power of Kuyperian presuppositionalism (with an emphasis on the biblical narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation) for the academic disciplines. In so doing, we hope to portray the Reformational worldview, not as merely a collection of slogans, but as an emerging school of thought with a worthwhile programme of research.

Registered participants only: Pick up your Academy Regained nametags at the ASA registration table, which is open from 8:15am to noon in the lobby of the Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery (MDCL).

12:00-1:00pm: Lunch – McMaster options are identified on this map. If you wish to eat in the McMaster dining room at Centro along with registrants of “From Cosmos to Psyche,” you must first purchase a meal ticket at the ASA registration table. Meal tickets are limited and available on a first come, first served basis. (You cannot purchase meals in the dining room at Centro.)